ALFIE Hill reckons a lust for hard work is what Heworth players need if the club is to become a force in rugby league's National Conference again.

The Villagers' coach, fresh from leading Yorkshire to success in the amateur County Championship, says the club have talent in the ranks but that the players have to show more desire with it.

Said the experienced coach: "The only way to get away from the bottom is to work hard and stick at the game.

"Some of these players finished third in the league just a few years ago and beat Wath Brow (arguably the best amateur team in the country) away from home. There is a decent amount of talent at the club but at the moment they're not prepared to work and get away from the bottom. It's nitty-gritty when your down in the dumps - you have to work hard."

Heworth are one place and three points above the re-election zone in division two with three games left this season, and Hill believes one more win will see them to safety. However, they face the top two teams, Eastmoor - away this Saturday (ko 2.30pm) -- and Ince Rosebridge, plus mid-table Crosfields, in the run-in.

"We could do with winning another game," said Hill. "We've pinpointed the Crosfields game as perhaps the one but Eastmoor only took 14 players to Ince Rosebridge last week and they played last night so hopefully they used up all their energy then.

"We've got 12 points now and back at Christmas we targeted 14 points as probably enough, though 16 would be great."

Half-backs Carl Potter and Gareth Kirby are injury doubts for Saturday but play-maker Paddy Handley will be back and captain Wayne Foster returns from Yorkshire duty.

As for that county triumph, Hill reckoned it topped the previous White Rose victory, in 2002, in which he was also boss. He said: "We had a squad of 35 players initially but that went down to 22 due to injuries and unavailability, so we were a bit thin on the ground," he said.

"We were the underdogs this year so it was a good achievement. It was great to beat champions Lancashire on their own ground and then beat Cumbria (28-14 last weekend), who had five Great Britain Under-21s in the team."

Foster and York Acorn flier Johnny Waldron were prominent in the victory over Cumbria, both impressing as second-half substitutes with Waldron scoring two tries.

Hill added: "Johnny can always win you a game because he's got that pace and it was always the plan to put him on in the second half and get past tired bodies. He got two tries and could have had four or five.

"Wayne gave his usual blockbusting performance, taking the ball up and making metres and stitching up the middle with his tackling."

Updated: 11:02 Thursday, April 07, 2005